BOARD PICKS PRINCIPAL AS UNIFIED’S NEW LEADER

Superintendent selected without community input

Barely 24 hours after Bill Kowba announced his resignation as superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, the board of education surprised the community by naming its next leader Wednesday night: a City Heights elementary school principal.

The five-member board unanimously agreed to promote Cindy Marten from principal of Central Elementary School to superintendent of California’s second-largest school district.

It’s highly unusual — virtually unheard of — for a large urban school district to hire a superintendent so quickly and without community input.

Board President John Lee Evans acknowledged that Marten, who has been at Central Elementary for 10 years, was an unlikely appointment given that she has been an administrator only since 2008, but he said the district needed an passionate educator to take the helm.

“We want an educator who is a visionary leader. We want someone who has respect from stakeholder groups with differing opinions. … We have found such a person in our own district,” Evans said. “We didn’t need to go to the community. We are confident we found the right person.”

Marten, 46, who attended San Diego Unified elementary and middle schools, has been an educator for 25 years and began her career in the Poway Unified School District. She took a job in San Diego Unified a decade ago, starting as a teacher at Central, a school that serves 850 mostly poor students who are not yet fluent in English.

“I am completely honored for this opportunity,” said Marten, who added that she was offered the job on Tuesday and has not figured out the logistics of her new position. “I believe in the hope and promise of public education in America. … I believe in doing the work to show America what good schools are all about.”

Marten vowed to transfer her work at Central Elementary to the sprawling district of 118,000 students.

Under Marten’s watch, the school in 2008 helped pilot a district program that kept students in the same small class groupings year after year. Test scores improved and teachers at the school said they found the intimate classes allowed them to reach students more effectively.

The class-size study, which was started by then-Superintendent Terry Grier, nearly fell victim to budget cuts after the first year but was salvaged by federal stimulus money. When it was vulnerable again in 2010, Marten fought to keep the original design at Central and attended every school board meeting in 2010 to advocate for the lower student-to-teacher ratio. The board ultimately voted to keep the project going.

San Diego Unified has twice before hired nontraditional superintendents — starting with then-U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin in 1998 and then again in 2010 with Kowba, a retired Navy rear admiral. Even so, this decision is perhaps more surprising since none of the trustees consulted with the community on the decision.

Trustee Richard Barrera, a community organizer by trade, said it would have been dishonest to hold public forums on the superintendent search when the board already made its choice. What’s more, he said Marten will step up parent engagement to a whole new level.

“I don’t believe in disingenuous community engagement,” Barrera said.

San Diego Unified spent months establishing a job profile, searching out candidates, and soliciting community input before hiring its last four superintendents. Before Kowba was hired three years ago, Evans and Barrera were adamant that parents, teachers and residents have a strong say in the decision.

“I have not seen it where one day the superintendent announces and the next day they appoint,” said Ron Bennett, president and CEO of School Services of California, a consulting firm that conducts executive job searches for districts throughout the state. “In the large urban (districts), it’s much more common to consult the community — for good reason. The needs of the community are evolving from time to time, and you want a fresh look at that. You want to genuinely take into account the needs and wants of the community.”

The prompt appointment, however, positions the district to immediately focus on the daunting work it faces: Closing an estimated $88 million deficit to next year’s $1.1 billion operating budget, preparing to roll out the state’s new Common Core academic standards by 2014, and implementing its own new graduation criteria that requires San Diego students to pass classes needed to apply to California public universities.

Marten will start her job effective July 1 after she and the district negotiate a contract that must be ratified by the board in open session. That is expected to happen in the coming weeks. Kowba, who earns an annual salary of $250,000 (excluding furlough days), will step down June 30 after three years as superintendent and a total of seven years with the district.